Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/-yūs

This Proto-Celtic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Celtic

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *-yōs.

Suffix

*-yūs

1. Forms comparative forms of adjectives.

   ‎*sen- (“old”) + ‎*-yūs → ‎*senyūs (“older”) (whence Old Irish siniu and Welsh hŷn)

Usage notes

• No direct gender/number/case inflection of comparative adjectives is attested in Celtic. However, Schrijver believes it must have existed in Proto-Celtic given how Brittonic apparently has outcomes of both nominative and accusative stems of this suffix.
  • The nominative of this suffix lost all productivity in Brythonic but a few remnants remain (such as Welsh hŷn < *senyūs). It was instead displaced by *-ox, which came from the accusative *-yosam and plural *-yoses.
  • Brittonic comparatives are attested in both predicative and attributive use; early Irish ones are only predicative.
• Some adjectives that used a Caland system suffix in the positive that was absent in the other degrees of comparison did not use *-yūs. Instead they used *-(a)is to form the comparative.

Inflection

Declension of the comparative
masculine	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*-yūs	*?	*-yoses
vocative	*-yūs	*?	*-yoses
accusative	*-yosam	*?	*-yosams
genitive	*-isos	*?	*-isom
dative	*-isei	*?	*-isbos
instrumental	*-isī	*?	*-isbis
feminine	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*-yūs	*?	*-yoses
vocative	*-yūs	*?	*-yoses
accusative	*-yosam	*?	*-yosams
genitive	*-isos	*?	*-isom
dative	*-isei	*?	*-isbos
instrumental	*-isī	*?	*-isbis
neuter	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*-is	*?	*?
vocative	*-is	*?	*?
accusative	*-is	*?	*?
genitive	*-isos	*?	*-isom
dative	*-isei	*?	*-isbos
instrumental	*-isī	*?	*-isbis

Descendants

• Proto-Brythonic: *-ox (from the accusative/plural stem)
  • Breton: -oc'h
  • Middle Welsh: -ach
    • Welsh: -ach
• Old Irish: -iu, -u
  • Irish: -e